The present invention relates to a water absorption gel carrier which binds and immobilizes a biocatalyst such as an animal or plant cell, microorganism or protozoan and is used as a bioreactor (immobilized biocatalyst) for the production of a substance, a treatment for making a harmful substance harmless, the treatment of waste oil, the treatment of waste water, deodorization and the like, to a resin bead for a bioreactor water absorption gel carrier and to a bioreactor using the same.
Carriers used in bioreactors are roughly divided into porous carriers and gel carriers (non-porous). The porous carriers include polyurethane porous bodies, cellulose porous bodies, polypropylene porous bodies, polyvinyl formal porous bodies, ceramic porous bodies and the like.
These carriers have a large surface area because they are porous and are used with animal or plant cells, microorganisms and protozoans bound and immobilized to the surfaces of their pores in many cases.
However, since polyurethane and polypropylene porous bodies are hydrophobic, they are inferior in flowability in water and difficult to bind a biocatalyst such as an animal or plant cell, microorganism or protozoan. Cellulose porous bodies have a short service life because they are eroded by microorganisms. Polyvinyl formal porous bodies have such a defect that their industrial production processes have not been established yet. Ceramics cannot be circulated in water because of their high specific gravities and hence, their usages are limited.
Gel carriers include polyacrylamide gel carrier, polyethylene glycol gel carrier, polyvinyl alcohol gel carrier, alginic acid gel carrier and the like. These gel carriers are generally used with animal or plant cells, microorganisms, protozoans or the like inclusively immobilized in gel. They can also be used with animal or plant cells, microorganisms, protozoans or the like bound and immobilized to the surfaces of their gels.
Although these gel carriers have a high moisture content, they have high affinity for living organisms excluding polyacrylamide gel carriers synthesized from acrylamides having cytotoxicity, and provide an ideal living environment for animal and plant cells, microorganisms and protozoans. On the other hand, most of them are inferior in physical strength because of their high moisture content and very likely to be worn out or decay in a reaction tank of a waste water treatment system or the like during use.
Gel carriers so far reported, including the above carriers, fall under the category of thermally curable, low-temperature curable, ion crosslinkable and photocurable organic polymer compounds and are obtained by gelling a reactive monomer dissolved in water through a reaction.
These carriers must be formed cubic, spherical or disk-like with a diameter of several millimeters to obtain a large surface area. The most commonly used conventional means for attaining this include one in which a water containing and swollen gel is cut, one in which an aqueous solution of a monomer is gelled into a spherical form having a diameter of several millimeters through a reaction, and the like. As a result, the conventional processes for producing gel carriers are very complicated, take a long time and cost dear. Further, it is difficult to produce a large quantity of a gel. For these reasons, it is considered that a bioreactor using a gel carrier is hardly widespread.